Many retailers have set up Internet web sites where consumers can shop for various products that are available for sale, purchase the desired products and have the products delivered to them. The term “online shopping” refers to the process of purchasing products over the Internet. The term “online merchant” may refer to a merchant that has set up an Internet web site through which products may be ordered.
Consumers may purchase a wide variety of products via online shopping. Some examples of products that may be purchased include tangible goods such as books, CDs, DVDs, tools, clothes, footwear, health/beauty items, hardware, groceries, or the like. Other examples of products that may be purchased via online shopping include “digital” goods, such as electronic books, music, movies/videos, application software, or the like.
An online merchant's web site may provide a wide variety of information about the products that are offered for sale. Such information may include images of the products, product descriptions, price, availability, customer reviews, etc.
An online merchant may offer products for sale that are manufactured by the merchant itself. Alternatively, or in addition, an online merchant may offer products for sale that are manufactured by or obtained from one or more third-party vendors.
A consumer may use a web browser on his/her computer to order products from an online merchant's web site. When products are ordered, the consumer may provide some type of payment information (e.g., a credit card number). The payment information may be encrypted as it is transferred from the consumer's computer to the merchant's server (or to a third-party payment server). Once the payment information has been received and verified, the products may be shipped to the consumer's address, downloaded to the consumer's computer, or made available for in-store pickup as appropriate.
Online shopping is popular for a variety of reasons, including its speed and ease of use. In view of the popularity of online shopping, benefits may be realized from improvements that are related to improving a consumer's online shopping experience.